Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” is about Harry Bittering and his family’s effort to escape war on Earth by building a colony on Mars. Throughout the story, Bittering is uneasy, feeling as though there’s something unnatural about the place (Read more about the importance of setting in a story). Just as he’s making up his mind to leave, the war on Earth destroys all of the available spaceships, and Bittering and his family are stuck on Mars. And that’s when things take a turn for the worse. Everything around them begins to change, from their eye color to everything they plant in the ground. Roses are even turning green. He tries to build a ship, but by that time, everything is pretty much ruined since the Bitterings themselves are changing— from their complexion to their bone structure. Cut to five years later, the Earth war has ended, and a new ship arrives on Mars with the mission to save the stranded Earthmen. But when they get there, there are only Martians—no trace of the humans remains anywhere.